King back to racing at Tour of Utah

Image 1 of 2

As news of rider transfers begins to circulate, Ted King can relax having signed a two-year deal with ProTeam Liquigas-Cannondale that will extend his time with the Italian outfit to the end of 2012. The New England native is looking forward to his second round with the Italian outfit and he is hoping for an injury-free and successful season to come.

"I signed again for next year," King told Cyclingnews. "I signed on for two years last year, which was nice. This year was the first year doing the sprint classics and to be on board for the classics for 2012 and with the team again is huge. I can communicate now in Italian. I am looking forward to next year."

King joined the Liquigas-Cannondale squad after competing for one season with Cervelo Test Team. He began his season at the Giro di Sardegna and went on to compete in the spring Classics. His good form rolled into the Amgen Tour of California followed by the USA Pro Cycling Championships, where to placed third behind race winner Matthew Busche (RadioShack) and George Hincapie (BMC Racing).

After a great first half of the season however, King was forced to take several weeks off to recover after breaking his collarbone at the TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championships in early June.

"It was a distant break on the collarbone and not just cycling related," King said. "When the break is so far out the healing isn’t guaranteed. I was able to get surgery quickly and get back on the bike in a week, starting with the trainer."

"I had good results coming out of nationals but it sucked to break my collarbone a week later," he said. "Results, high ambitions and accidents are all part of the game."

King is currently competing with his team at the Tour of Utah held from August 9-14 in Salt Lake City and he will follow that with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge held from August 22-28 in Colorado. He spent three weeks prior to the event in Aspen to prepare for the high-altitude.

"I have a massive base now," King said. "I spent some time in New England and then went up to Aspen for the past three weeks. It was beautiful and great training. The altitude was a big reason why I was there. I was getting ready for Utah and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge."

"The window between tempo and blowing up, when you are at altitude, is so minimal," he said. "I don’t have the race intensity, but Utah was a good race for me to get back into it."

Liquigas-Cannondale’s Tour of Utah team also includes Tour de France contender Paolo Borghini, Davide Cimolai, Tim Duggan, Juraj Sagan and Elia Viviani, who placed second in the stage two sprint behind winner Jack Bauer (Endura Racing).

"There is no pressure on me but personal ones," King said. "I’m glad that Medalist got behind this race. It was the hardest race in the states the last time that I did it in 2008, and this only makes it a more reputable and a difficult race."

"Viviani, our sprinter is doing really well," he said. "Borghini is coming from the Tour and he is a super domestique. He climbs well and does everything well. Timmy is on good form too. It is a good team here."

Liquigas-Cannondale’s USA Pro Cycling Challenge team will include another Tour de France contender in Ivan Basso. According to King, the team has higher ambitions for that event and its riders were better able to recover from the Tour de France, than they could for the Tour of Utah.

"The Tour riders were fairly burned out and so going to Colorado, instead of Utah, gave them more time to recover," King said. "We are excited to have Ivan Basso racing in Colorado. Training in altitude that last three weeks has been awesome and been good motivation for the race. Colorado is at such a wild altitude that no one knows what will happen really. I rode over independence Pass and it was nuts."